Newsflash: Monero and Litecoin fees negligent after the recent updates while crypto MCO cards started shipping in Singapore
As we got used to by now, Monday brought us a relatively stable market with a couple of stand-up performers. As Ravencoin and BAT did their best to impress and make their holders happy with their price action, other currencies delivered some silent updates on the fundamental side of things. This news update will give you a couple of those updates as the main course, with some decent adoption-related FOMO on the side:
- A list of major retailers currently accepting Bitcoin released
A Reddit user imnorm2 went through the effort of collecting and presenting the biggest existing marketplaces/retailers that currently accept Bitcoin as a payment option.
The list contains several well-known names as well as several younger, up-and-coming startups willing to get paid in BTC.
KFC Canada, Playboy, Subway, Microsoft’s Windows Store, Richard Branson’s Virgin Atlantic, OkCupid, Newegg.com, The Pirate Bay, Etsy, Bloomberg, BigFishGames.com, ExpressVPN, Shopify.com, Naughty America, T-Mobile Poland and even the MLS team San Jose Earthquakes or the American Libertarian Party can be found on this extensive list.
Check out the complete list here.
- Litecoin’s new update to lower fees 10x
Litecoin Core is about to release its v0.17 update, which is expected to lower the network fees an impressive 10 times.
The average transaction fee as it stands on the network is Ł0.001 per KB or ~$0.05. With the upcoming changes, the fee will soon become Ł0.0001 per KB or ~ $0.005, half a cent and back at 2015 levels.
The developers wanted to address the fee issue specifically as those had a history of “blowing up” in the past, averaging $0.10 at the turn of the year and peaking at over $1.
?Learn more about Cex.io in the Cex.io detailed guide.
Lowering the fees is expected to increase the currency’s adoption and will likely not affect the miner network, whose profits currently come mostly from newly minted Litecoin.
- Monero’s fees drop significantly post update
Last Tuesday, Monero introduced a new update which had a significant effect on the entire network.
The update introduced a new form of cryptography called bulletproofs, a technology that reduces the computation excess and makes the transactions less bloated with useless data.
Instead of obscuring the entirety of data, bulletproofs technology conceals the quantities sent within a transaction; the sender and recipient’s address are still visible, but the amount being sent is not.
Besides improving the on-platform privacy (something that’s Monero’s prime goal) and making the network more ASIC-resistant, the bulletproofs improved the network’s transaction fees structure as well.
According to BitInfoCharts, average Monero fees fell from $0.54 cents on Thursday to $0.021 cents as of Saturday.
Sources indicate that these fees could be going down even lower in the future.
- MCO Visa Cards to begin shipping to customers in Singapore
MCO Visa Card, a prepaid card product featuring high end metal cards with 0 annual or monthly fees, began shipping to customers in Singapore on October 22nd.
The card promises “airport lounge access for select cards, free ATM withdrawals, tap-and-pay functionality, and competitive interbank rates” to its owners.
The card is closely connected to a mobile wallet app which lets users customize their card usage and transactions and also offers the ability to freeze or unfreeze their card with a single tap.
The community’s reaction to these news was mixed; most were happy about the cards finally going into shipping but some felt a sour taste in their mouths, both because the cards are coming out way past the previously set deadlines and because they don’t provide on-the-fly conversion.
- NEM signs an MoU with MOCD
NEM recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) Ministry of Community Development (MOCD).
This MoU will see NEM provide blockchain consultation services and support to the MOCD, while allowing both parties to exchange information, knowledge and the latest updates on the emerging technology of blockchain.
The memorandum of understanding) was signed between Her Excellency Sana Mohamed Suhail, the Undersecretary of the UAE’s MOCD and Stephen Chia, Regional Head of NEM Southeast Asia and NEM Foundation Council Member, during this year’s Gulf Information Technology Exhibition (GITEX) Technology Week (held from 14-18 October).
This signing comes as part of UAE federal government strategy to bring a high standard of living for their citizens; another goal of the partnership will be to provide community services in an innovative, sustainable and digital manner.
MOCD’s cooperation with NEM will be a key element of UAE’s desire to become a fully digital government by 2021.
